"People First"

Author: Jacob Share

4 KINDS OF SUMMER JOBS

Knowing this can open your eyes to options you haven’t already thought about.

A summer job can be any of the following:

a job that only happens in the summertime

a job whose timing this year happens to match up with the coming summer

a job related to something that experiences a temporary or regular hiring boom, such as in the summer

a regular job that a company temporarily gives to a lower-salaried person until a full-time hire is found, such as a student available in the summer

In other words, if you’re NOT a teenager, student or graduate, most summer jobs will probably not be relevant to your career unless you want to test a new direction or you work in a seasonal industry.

That said, you can use a summer job as a way to get your foot in the door of a targeted company, and then impress the employer into hiring you full-time.

SUMMER JOB SEARCH TIPS

Now let’s take a look at what’s so special about summer job hunting.

Target industries that boom in the summer

Entertainment and tourism-oriented businesses do better in the summer as people go on vacation, everyone knows that, right? Yet there are lots of other industries that boom in the summer too for less obvious reasons. Read on for ideas below.

Be the first to apply …

Many summer jobs require little to no experience. To save time and money, many employers will hire the first reputable (read: trustworthy) candidates that apply.

… But you don’t have to be the first to apply

Many summer job openings are already filled by April, but with all that time until the jobs actually begin, things can come up and plans can change. Candidates may decide they prefer other jobs or not to work at all, and employers may realize they need more help than anticipated.

Treat application forms like resumes

Many summer jobs, such as at fast-food restaurants or retail stores, will want you to submit an application form instead of a resume (which many teens might not have anyway).

Spend the time to complete any forms correctly. If the form needs to be filled in by hand, take a few copies in case you make a mistake you can’t correct. Like with a resume, have someone reliable proofread your applications before you submit them.

Stay open to working multiple jobs

If you read my summer job history, you’ll notice that during 3 different summers, I worked more than one job. That was never planned in advance – although it could have been – but if you keep your eyes and ears open and stay ready, you can quickly jump to a better job or just another one if your first one ends early.

Experiment and take risks more readily

Are there are any job search tactics you’ve been too shy to try on your long-term career job search? Give them a shot during the summer when there’s less at stake. You’ll learn what works for you and what doesn’t, and build more confidence for when you really need it.

Play up your specific qualities

If you’re a teenager or student, aim for jobs where having a flexible schedule is important, or dealing with other teenagers and students.

If you’re an adult, aim for jobs where employers will feel more comfortable by your experience, or where you’ll need to work with people who might be uncomfortable dealing with teenagers and students.

Don’t start your own business unless…

… you can clearly make money immediately, or you won’t need to.

Summer is short and if you try the wrong idea, you might waste the whole summer without any returns for your efforts.

DO start your own business during the summer if you’re not desperate for cash right way and are hoping to time things so that earnings will arrive after the summer when you’ll need them more.

Aim to return next summer

Make this your last summer job search by impressing your employer so much they’ll want you to come back next summer.

When the summer ends, ask about returning and try to get a date during the year when you can followup for confirmation.

With those tips in mind, here are lots of ideas where to look for summer jobs.

WHERE TO FIND SUMMER JOBS

Offline

Previous summer employers – call to see if you can have your old job back or a new one

Your family business

Your friend’s family business

At home i.e. get paid for chores or odd jobs in your house and/or the neighbors’

Get your parents to ask their friends

With your friends who have already lined up summer jobs that might need more people

Student career centers

Local employment services and bureaus

Store & restaurant windows

Shopping malls / shopping centers

Public bulletin boards, such as at community centers, churches, synagogues and mosques

When you come across an open position that seems like the perfect fit for you, it can be tempting to submit your resume and cover letter as fast as humanly possible. The quicker you get your application materials in front of the hiring manager, the better—right?

If you submit your cover letter and resume within minutes or even an hour of a position opening, it means one of two things: You knew the position would be opening and you were ready for it, or you didn’t spend much time preparing your documents before submitting them. If it’s the former, that’s great! You’re ahead of the game. If it’s the latter, however, you’ve likely just labeled yourself a mediocre candidate.

Why? Your application materials are your first (and sometimes, only) chance to demonstrate your professionalism, enthusiasm, and attention to detail—or lack thereof. And these traits show up in the details. Immediately, hiring managers can tell whether you’ve put the necessary amount of work into the application. Here are a few of the most common pitfalls that applicants who rush their application fall into.

1. You Fail to Seek Out the Right Contact

Is your cover letter addressed to a specific person or the dreaded “Whom It May Concern?”

When I receive a letter that starts with, “Dear Ms. Thetford,” I immediately recognize that the applicant cares about details and thoroughness. It tells me that the candidate is excited enough about the opportunity to seek out my name and email address.

On the other hand, “To Whom it May Concern” tells me something very different—that the applicant didn’t read the entire job posting, didn’t take the time to do the proper research, or, even worse, sent me a generic cover letter that also went to 30 other employers. Overall, it demonstrates very little effort and minimal interest.

If the hiring manager’s name and email address aren’t listed in the job posting, it’s going to take some time and effort on your part to determine the appropriate recipient (here are some tips to make it easier). But it’s worth it: Taking that time can make the difference between snagging an interview or not.

2. You Fail to Catch Those Little Errors

It’s also important to proofread your documents. There’s nothing that says “rush job” like misspelling a common word or completely overlooking punctuation.

Of course, editing your own documents will only get you so far. Remember those English papers you had to write in school? Even after reading and revising multiple times, the teacher found at least one error you had somehow overlooked.

The same can happen with your cover letter and resume. After a while, you won’t see even blatant errors because you’re simply too familiar with the documents. That means you need to have another set of eyes—consider asking a friend or mentor—proof your documents.

3. You Fail to Customize Your Resume

Does your resume highlight the qualifications that are most relevant to the position you’re applying for, or are your bullet points unchanged from the last dozen times you’ve submitted it?

If you’ve carefully reviewed the job posting and, if possible, spoken to someone at the company to better understand what the business needs, you should be able to customize your resume to highlight your best and most relevant qualifications and accomplishments.

It takes time to rearrange your resume content and tweak the wording of each section, but when your experience and skills clearly align with the job description, the hiring manager will immediately see that you are a good fit—and will be much more likely to invite you to interview.

To make sure you’re on the right track, consider enlisting someone to read your cover letter and resume alongside the job posting. He or she can provide an outsider’s perspective about things you might highlight, reword, or emphasize to make you come across as the strongest candidate possible.

4. You Fail to Go the Extra Mile to Stand Out

Finally, consider if there are additional documents you could submit or steps you could take before sending in only the traditional cover letter and resume.

Depending on the role, it might benefit you to include samples, training verifications, or other relevant items that showcase your qualifications. You may even decide to go the extra mile and submit something that wasn’t requested, but could show your passion and unique qualifications—like an unsolicited project proposal.

You need to give yourself time to consider what, if anything, might help your case and to prepare those documents to showcase you at your best.

Putting your best foot forward with a potential employer should never be done in haste. Sure, you might have a great cover letter and resume. But unless you have updated those documents for the specific job you’re applying for, then they aren’t great for that particular job.

Convincing an employer that you have the qualifications, passion, and interest to be a stellar team member takes time and effort. But if you really want the job, it’s time well spent.

About The Author

Caris Thetford is a counselor who is fanatical about personal growth and development. She is particularly interested in encouraging women to reach their full potential. She encourages student development through various roles at Tarleton State University.

Deciding which skill sets to add to your resume as you adapt it to various positions can be difficult. Do potential employers care about the many volunteer programs you have been a part of, or are they more interested in the numerous minor achievement awards that have been bestowed upon you. One thing is certain; no matter what career you are applying for, employers are intent about seeing what IT skills you can bring to the table.

The idea might be somewhat surprising, but nearly every career-level position out there today requires some level of technical knowledge. The more you have, the more likely finding a job will be a breeze.

Here are just a few positions that value IT skills more than you would think.

Healthcare

Careers in the healthcare industry have sincere need for professionals with IT skills and capacities. Many major technological advances in the field have been slow to take effect because of the necessary time to retrain busy doctors and nurses that have been practicing for years. As these individuals reach retirement age and new positions open up, hiring managers are looking to hire people who are versed in current hospital tech, and are willing to take on new technical challenges as they arise.

And they are sure to arise; new technology is being implemented in healthcare every day to help doctors better understand their patients. For instance, researchers in University of Cincinnati’s Health Informatics program tested the advantages of implementing geographic information systems into medical research. They found the technology to be promising, but concluded that many facilities did not have the capacity to take advantage of it at this time, but likely would begin implementing it in the near future.

Library Science

When thinking of places where IT skills are highly valued, libraries may be one of the last places to come to mind. In reality though, librarians have adapted to the age of technology. They are often some of the most well-versed individuals in finding valuable research information through technical avenues and can be a massive asset in any project.

In fact, in many places it can be difficult to acquire a position at the local library without a considerable IT skill set. Librarians are expected to be able to help visitors from all over the world navigate their e-library, where many books in the collection have been scanned into the system and can be ‘checked out’ online. Librarians are often now considered the managers of massive databases of information.

Construction

Perhaps even more surprising than the need for IT skills in library positions, is the need for IT skills in career-level construction positions. Although a great deal of the work within the field is still very hands-on, computers have made a major impact on the industry. Computer-based programs have allowed for far greater accuracy in field and greater communication with architects and engineers off-site.

Because of this, many site managers must be proficient in the use of these programs to direct employees and complete their job. For many large projects, the use of computers for analysis of work processes has enabled contractors to both promote workplace safety and reduce the overall budget. Furthermore, the technology has allowed for greater project collaboration, which can keep everyone from plumbers to electricians on the same page.

The addition of IT skills to your resume is a huge advantage no matter the position you are applying for. Even in the most unlikely careers, this type of experience makes for a significant bonus to hiring managers. Clearly, IT skills have become the backbone of any strong resume out there today.

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About the Author: Brittni Brown is a current Masters student at the University of Idaho. In her free time she enjoys a variety of outdoor activities including hiking, biking, and rafting.

Every employer knows the costs of a bad hire. The impacts are accounted for in time, money and morale. The financial costs in particular are severe: recent estimates from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ Report to the Nation indicate that a typical organization loses 5% of its revenues each year to occupational fraud, with more than 20% of the cases suffering over $1 million in losses. As a result, a bad hire can be crippling for businesses large and small.

In the US, background checking has proven to be an enormous benefit to employers in mitigating this risk. A report published by HR Management Magazine documents the ROI of dollars spent on background checking as 937%. According to the US Small Business Administration, for every dollar an employer invests in employment screening, the return on investment ranges from $5-16, resulting from improved productivity, reduced absenteeism, lower turnover – and decreased employer liability. The economics of background checking are simply too striking for employers to ignore.

Here are three powerful reasons why you should run a background check on all your candidates:

1. Hire legal workers

Hiring someone without the right to work in the US could get you fined up to $10,000 per employee. According to a 2013 report by the Department of Homeland Security, the estimated size of the illegal immigrant population living in the US was 11.4 million. Unauthorized immigrants account for about 5% of the US workforce, with the highest concentrations being found in California, New York and New Jersey.

Running a “Right to Work” check takes just a few hours and gives you the peace of mind to hire with confidence.

2. Hire safe workers

Ensuring the safety of workers is a key responsibility for all employers. According to the National Employment Law Project, over 65 million individuals in the United States have a criminal record and almost 1 million of those are registered Sex Offenders. For certain roles, such as those which involve contact with children or the elderly, criminal background checks are a legal requirement, but it is recommended that all employers carry out a basic level of criminal check on their employees. Employers in the delivery, transport or car-sharing space are also advised to carry out “Driving Record Checks” to ensure that their drivers are safe and qualified to drive.

3. Hire honest workers

In the2014 Global Fraud Study, survey participants estimated that the typical organization loses 5% of revenues each year to fraud. The median loss caused by the frauds in the study was $145,000 and 22% of the cases involved losses of at least $1 million. Whilst the impact is severe for all businesses, it is the smallest organizations which tend to suffer disproportionately large losses due to occupational fraud. Many organizations spend a lot of time and money to recover the costs of fraud but are often unable to do so completely. At the time of the survey, 58% of the victim organizations had not recovered any of their losses due to fraud, and only 14% had made a full recovery.

It may not be possible to predict the future, but it is possible to be informed of the past. Many cases of occupational fraud are linked to other crimes such as identity theft. By running a simple SSN Trace and “Document Image Check”, you can be sure that your future employees are indeed who they say they are and thereby less likely to pose risk to your business.

Ready to make background checks an essential part of your hiring?

To prevent these risks, there’s a clear need to put systems in place to prevent employee malfeasance and minimize the costs of bad hires. In the past, recruiters had to carry out background checks manually and manage several processes in order to do so. Today, there is an easier way: you can deploy background checks in seconds. Onfido, the leading background check provider integrates seamlessly with modern ATSs like SmartRecruiters, and allows you to run faster background check, in just one click.

Onfido’s integration with SmartRecruiters empowers you to incorporate background checks directly into your hiring workflow and see the results right from the candidate profile page inside SmartRecruiters.

To start requesting SSN, Document, National Criminal or other background checks, head to Onfido’s page in the SmartRecruiters Marketplace today.

This article was written by Husayn Kassai, CEO and co-founder of Onfido. Onfido delivers next-generation background checks, helping the world’s most innovative businesses verify anyone, anywhere. Built on intelligent technology and supported by specialists, Onfido is a faster, simpler and more cost-effective way for businesses to carry out identity verification and adverse history searches on their applicants. Onfido works with over 600 clients globally, including Morgan McKinley, RelayRides and Handy.

Are more time, a deeper hiring pool, and more qualified candidates important to your Human Resources department? We’ll wait while you give three resounding “Yes!” replies.

Hiring a new employee is sort of like picking out an engagement ring. In both cases, you browse through a variety of choices before making the perfect choice.

However, unlike the act of picking out an engagement ring, finding and hiring the perfect candidate to fill a position takes a lot of time and manpower. Many HR departments and senior managers don’t have the time and resources they need to really make sure the hiring process runs smoothly.

When this is the case, HR departments and hiring managers can turn to staffing firms to help. In doing so, they can not only save time, but also gain access to a deeper, more qualified talent pool – a total win.

If your business is a startup or striving to get to the next tier of venture capital financing, you can often benefit from leveraging your internal leadership team’s network to build a your initial pool of employees. By turning to people with whom your leaders have worked successfully to build profitable ventures in the past, you can assemble a “boots on the ground” team to get your company off the ground.

However, hiring in this fashion is difficult to scale, and in order to meet your financial goals, you’re going to need a pool of candidates who can step in and make an immediate difference.

This is where a staffing firm can step in and help. Not sure if a staffing firm is right for you? Check out these five benefits that staffing firms can bring your business today:

1. More Effective Sourcing

The best and most attractive candidates won’t be posting their resumes on job boards. They know that the best time to look for a new job is when you don’t need one. Select talent is also highly selective. A staffing firm stays in touch with its candidate base and knows when someone is seeking a new job before their resume ever touches the Internet.

2. Get in Touch With Your Competition’s Top Talent

Sure, you may have an in-house recruiter, but they’re going to have a difficult time scoping out the talent at your competitors’ offices. This is especially key when trying to source for and fill higher-level roles.

An external recruiting firm, on the other hand, will have a much easier time calling and emailing the employees of your competitors. They can talk with candidates during lunch hours, after business hours, or on weekends. Given that they are external recruiters, they will probably raise fewer suspicious eyebrows than your own in-house recruiters would, meaning they can chat with the competition in peace.

3. Sell Your Brand Better

An external recruiting firm sells your company and your opportunity. Industries are small, and people know each other. Often, a candidate will demur from pursuing an opportunity at a given company if they have heard something negative about that company.

A third-party recruiter from a staffing firm will have an easier time convincing reluctant candidates to give your company a shot. Whereas candidates may not trust your in-house recruiters, they’ll be more likely to speak frankly with third-party recruiters. Staffing firm recruiters can, in turn, dispel any myths or rumors the candidate may have heard about your organization.

4. Better Negotiations

Candidates find it easier to talk with headhunters than companies about their salaries. They can test the waters of their desired compensation levels without concern that the company will deem them over- or underqualified as a result. Companies, meanwhile, can hold firm in their offers without worrying that they may offend the candidate.

5. 360-Degree Feedback

Headhunters can act as additional ears to the ground. A good headhunter will follow up with each candidate after placement to gather feedback. Concerns that might otherwise go undiscussed can be communicated directly to the company. The company can then address those concerns and set the new hire up for success – and a lengthy tenure at the organization.

“Most [candidates] have no idea why a recruiter asks a particular question,” says Brad Karsh, a former recruiting professional for advertising giant Leo Burnett and current president of career consulting firm Job Bound. “They tend to think it’s a competition to outwit the interviewer.”

The reality is that employers have neither the time nor inclination to play games with you, especially when hiring. Your interviewer is not trying to outguess you — he’s trying to assess your answers to six key questions:

Do You Have the Skills to Do the Job?

According to Karsh, the employer must first determine whether you have the necessary hard skills for the position, e.g., the programming knowledge for a database administration job or the writing chops to be a newspaper reporter. “By really probing into what the candidate has done in the past, an interviewer can tap into hard skills.”

But the interviewer is also looking for key soft skills you’ll need to succeed in the job and organization, such as the ability to work well on teams or “the requisite common sense to figure things out with some basic training,” says Terese Corey Blanck, director of student development at internship company Student Experience and a partner in College to Career, a consulting firm.

Do You Fit?

“Every organization’s first thought is about fit and potentially fit in a certain department,” Corey Blanck says. That means the interviewer is trying to pinpoint not only whether you match up well with both the company’s and department’s activities but also whether you’ll complement the talents of your potential coworkers.

Do You Understand the Company and Its Purpose?

If the organization fits well with your career aspirations, you’ll naturally be motivated to do good work there — and stay more than a month or two, Corey Blanck reasons. “I don’t want someone to take the position because it’s a job and it fits their skills,” she says. “I want them to be excited about our mission and what we do.”

How Do You Stack Up Against the Competition?

You’re being evaluated in relation to other candidates for the job. In other words, this test is graded on a curve. So the interviewer will constantly be comparing your performance with that of the other candidates’.

Do You Have the Right Mind-Set for the Job and Company?

“I’m always looking for someone who has a can-do type of attitude,” Corey Blanck explains. “I want someone who wants to be challenged and is internally motivated to do well.

Corey Blanck points out that an employer can’t train for this essential trait. “But you can hire for it,” she says. “And if you don’t, you’ll end up with a lower-performing employee.”

Do You Want the Job?

Most employers know better than to believe everyone they interview actually wants the position being offered. They understand some candidates are exploring their options, while others are using an interview with a company they don’t care about to hone their interview skills.

So you have to prove you really want the job, says Al Pollard, senior college recruiter for Countrywide Financial. “I use the ditch-digger analogy,” he says. “Many of us can dig ditches, but few are willing to — and even fewer want to.”

Top 10 IT Skills in Demand in 2016

by Keith Robinson @ Resource Central

It will come as no surprise to hear that the 2016 IT Market globally is “hot”. In fact, it’s ‘white hot’. Salaries are increasing, employee turnover is ‘on the up’, the classic post-recession candidate move towards Contractor status is in full swing – and, as always, we have ever-present core skill shortages, verging on the acute.

1. IT Architecture

* 42% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

The term “IT architect” encompasses a wide range of specialists, from enterprise architects to cloud architects, so recruiters say it makes sense that IT architecture expertise is in demand as companies move forward with all sorts of technology-driven projects.

2. Programming/Application Development

* 40% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Despite fears that programming expertise is a commodity that can be obtained cheaply offshore, programming and application development continue to be among the most sought-after skills in enterprise IT.

Demand for Programmers and Developers is springing up in new areas, too, thanks to the rise of Mobile and the emergence of the ‘Internet of Things’. As an example, in the Automotive industry, some cars now come off the assembly line with a million lines of code – and this is just one evidence of how programming’s footprint is widening

3. Project Management

* 39% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

With almost half (46%) of the Forecast survey respondents expecting their technology spending to increase in 2016, it’s no surprise that project management remains a top five skill: More spending means more projects — and that means more people will be needed to manage those projects.

4. Big Data

* 36% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

The surge in interest in using data to drive business has pushed demand for big data skills from No. 10 in last year’s Forecast report to No. 4 today. Moreover, in the Forecast 2016 survey, big data/analytics was No. 1 on the list of technologies that survey respondents said they were currently beta-testing or using in pilot projects, with 23% saying they were engaged in such initiatives.

5. Business Intelligence/Analytics

* 34% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Holding steady in the top 10 skills list is another data-related area of specialization: BI and analytics.

6. Help Desk/Technical Support

* 30% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

The recruiting model for Help Desk/Technical Support seems to be to find prospects recently graduated from college/university (people with a well-rounded education) in the belief that if candidates have ‘natural’ customer service skills and the ability to communicate, companies can then educate them on the tech skills.

7. Database Administration

* 25% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Demand for Database Administrators remains high thanks to the ever-increasing interest in big data, BI and analytics. Employers want people with extensive backgrounds in database administration and a deep understanding of data reporting tools and technologies such as Oracle, SQL, DB2 and Hadoop.

8. Security/Compliance/Governance

* 25% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Although security expertise slipped from No. 4 on last year’s list of the 10 hottest tech skills, make no mistake about its importance: Security professionals are in demand and can command high salaries. Exactly 50% of those who participated in our Forecast 2016 survey said they plan to increase spending on security technologies in the next 12 months, and security was No. 2 among the most important IT projects that respondents have underway. Compensation for security pros keeps going up because demand for talented people is strong, and because security specialists play a critical role in most organizations.

9. Cloud/SaaS

* 25% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Research firm IDC predicts that more than half of enterprise IT infrastructure and software investments will be cloud-based by 2018. Specifically, spending on public cloud services will grow to more than £100 billion by 2018, according to an IDC forecast report.

10. Web Development

* 24% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months. * Last year’s ranking: No. 5

Web development continues to crack the Computerworld Forecast list of the top 10 most in-demand IT skills because organisations have come to rely heavily on the Web as a channel for connecting with customers, clients, partners and employees since they built their first websites a decade or two ago, IT leaders say. While they don’t need Web developers to establish a Web presence anymore, they do need people with the ability to ensure that their sites are open and ready for business.

So IT Recruitment will continue to remain a tough recruiting market and salaries will continue to go up with demand. A further ‘dark cloud’ is that in Europe we’re seeing a slow down of the East to West talent migration that helped ease the skill shortage in the western economies – leading to an equivalent increase in the growth of BPO IT functions in the Central & Eastern Europe Regions.

Are there any ‘silver linings’? In our experience, the way to fulfil your requirements remains hiring an expert recruitment team with the dedicated resource to deliver an agreed planned yet intense activity, be it shortlisting candidates for you or engaging with the candidates to gauge interest and ‘fit’.

2016 Job Search: The new year is just around the corner, and a lot of people are making forecasts about hiring trends.

There are a few people that I trust on their predictions, and Laurie Ruettimann, a well-respected and leading-edge thinker, speaker, writer, and consultant within the human resources space, is one of them.

What she predicts is exactly what I have been seeing on my end when working with job seekers.

As employers have been gradually adding jobs or loosening hiring freezes, it’s become a seller’s market for job seekers.

But before you start rubbing your hands together gleefully, exclaiming, “Laissez les bon temps roulez!” (“Let the good times roll,” for those of you who haven’t been to New Orleans before), there are few things you should know before considering a job move.

Know your value, but don’t piss off recruiters or hiring managers during a 2016 job search. They have long memories, and also talk amongst themselves. So yeah, you might be courted by multiple employers to come work for them, but don’t tease them if you really have no sincere interest. And be smart before you try to play them off of each other.

Most industries are becoming even more incestuous during a 2016 job search. Because everyone is feeling safer about making a job move now that things are relaxing more in terms of available opportunities, it doesn’t mean that people are going far.

So to the point above about how people talk?

Yeah, that.

Remember that you should always treat everyone with respect because you never know who might be the decision maker. They are making moves too, and you could find yourself talking to a person you ticked off when they worked at a different company.

Continue to be frustrated with applying online. No technology service provider has completely figured out how to use software to make the hiring process easier.

So while employers are still bumping into themselves trying to create a “glorious candidate experience”, the problem is that for the job seeker, it’s still the proverbial black hole. And people are still frustrated with the lack of the human touch.

But there is a solution, and I’ll keep hammering this home til the last breath escapes my body:

At the end of the day, you can try and go through the “front door” of formally applying online, but people hire who they know. That’s where a cultural and chemistry fit happens.

The biggest disruptions are the ones you don’t see coming. Resolve to get ahead of them this year (with a little help from us).

As a dedicated staffing industry professional, you may have set goals for 2015 — but have you considered how some of the recent developments within the industry may affect them? By being aware of this year’s biggest staffing trends and resolving to do something about them, you’ll add value back to your business and truly make a name for your firm as 2015 gets into full gear.

Trend No. 1: The War for Talent is raging.

Demand for talent is up, unemployment is down — and key skills are going to be harder than ever to find. It’s time to show up for battle with the right ammunition.

Resolution for 2015: Show the skills gap who’s boss. How? By building a stronger employment brand, paying employees a fair wage, creating training opportunities for your employees and promoting from within, investing in necessary job skills, and taking better advantage of candidate referrals.

Did you know?2 in 5 candidates see a skills gap in their particular industry, according to Inavero and CareerBuilder’s 2014 Opportunities in Staffing Study. Despite this, many believe staffing firms can help overcome that gap. Thirty-seven percent of candidates are also noticing that the skills gap limits employment opportunities, and 33 percent recognize their skills are different than what is needed by most employers.

What this means: Talking frankly with your clients about what skills gaps they are witnessing will help you understand their challenges as well as reaffirm your importance as the partner in helping them overcome the gap. And coaching your candidates who have similar, though not-quite-there skill sets on what they can do to be more desirable to employers within their industry will help everyone involved.

Millennials. Baby boomers. Gen X. The silent generation. (Coming soon: Generation Z.) Your workforce, whether you realize it or not, is a spectrum of generations and with that comes variations in work styles, habits, motivations, values, strengths and more.

Resolution for 2015: Find out what makes your workers tick — from the silent generation to the social natives. While it’s true you definitely shouldn’t brush with broad strokes when it comes to leading your workforce, recognizing that different generations may have different needs will help you better understand and lead them. Successfully lead your multigenerational workforce by respecting varying communication styles, foreseeing potential culture clashes and correctly interpreting your employees’ signals.

Trend No. 3: Building a talent pipeline that “re-recruits” talented workers is essential.

Getting candidates’ attention has gone from hard to harder — not to mention sustaining that attention for more than mere seconds. Today, you need to keep your candidate flow strong with a continuous and thoughtful recruitment process rather than a one-and-done strategy (which really isn’t much of a strategy, now, is it?)

Resolution for 2015: Capture more candidates and reduce drop-off by continually engaging your potential talent. The key to workforce planning is all about creating and nurturing a database of pre-qualified candidates so they’re ready to be contacted and called in to interview at any moment. An easy-to-find, branded talent network will help you capture and re-engage more candidates over a longer period of time, as it works behind the scenes to send members targeted job alerts when your new positions are posted.

Did You Know?65 percent of candidates are likely to accept a future staffing firm assignment.

What this means: It’s great to see how many candidates are willing to accept a future assignment with staffing firms, and the reason for a majority that’s not likely to accept a future assignment is about wanting permanent work. Despite misconceptions about reasons behind candidates’ unwillingness to accept future assignments, for a majority of candidates it’s not about the pay or recruiters or other factors, but about wanting a permanent/full-time job.

Trend No. 4: Smile, you’re on camera.

Video and social is everywhere. Your candidates and employees are seamlessly integrating social media and interactive video apps into their everyday lives, and as the lines between work and professional lives have blurred, they expect their professional lives to be interactive and engaging, too.

Resolution for 2015: Amp up your employment brand. A whopping 91 percent of candidates have said a potential employer’s brand plays a big part in whether or not they apply to a job. As an employer, you have a multitude of resources at your fingertips to help build your brand. By embracing video and social, you have the opportunity to amplify your recruiting, training, onboarding, employee communications, and even performance management and recognition efforts.

Did you know?Two-thirds of staffing firm clients use social media to some extent for recruiting.

What this means: A third of clients never use social media for recruiting purposes, and another 27 percent do so rarely (monthly or less).

Why it matters: Knowing that about half of clients are regularly using social media creates the perfect window for staffing firms to persuade potential clients of the firm’s social media savvy and resulting success in recruiting. With social media affecting most aspects of business today, there are few clients who don’t know that they ‘should’ be using social media, but many don’t have the time to do it, creating the perfect selling opportunity for your staffing firm to fill that gap.

Technology continues to dominate the way candidates search and engage: Once candidates decide to apply, they expect to be able to act immediately — be it on a PC, tablet, smartphone or other mobile device. If you’re not mobile-optimized, you’re likely going to lose a lot of potential candidates to your competitors whose sites do make it easy for candidates to apply on their mobile devices.

Resolution for 2015: Create and execute a mobile recruitment strategy. There’s no sense in fighting against the rising tide: 71 percent of staffing firm candidates have searched for a job on a mobile site, and those statistics will only increase as we move into 2015. And having a mobile recruitment strategy isn’t just about keeping up with the Joneses. It gives your company three distinct advantages: It increases applications, reduces candidate drop-off rates and strengthens your company’s brand.

Did you know? Candidates aren’t the only ones using mobile. 65 percent of clients correspond via text with someone from their staffing or recruiting firm and 44 percent review applications submitted by from their firm via their mobile device.

What this means: Client smartphone ownership continues to grow in 2015, with now more than 9 in 10 having a smartphone. Clients are using all those smartphones to heavily interact with their staffing firms.

Why it matters: Not having a mobile-optimized website is no longer an option. But beyond the website, building all of your client-facing systems to work well on mobile is imperative to make usage as easy and efficient for your clients as possible.

With global talent shortages, growing skills gaps and increasing competition for qualified individuals, talent acquisition has become much more challenging in recent years. Further complicating the process is that the workforce has never been more diverse.

With five distinct generations in the workplace, each with their own unique wants, needs and expectations, as well as changing attitudes toward work among all generations, trying to attract candidates in this dynamic, ever-changing talent pool can be incredibly frustrating.

And the companies that continue to use a standard message to engage with their desired candidates will only fall further behind.

Personalization and Aggregation: A Delicate Balance.

In this jobseeker’s market, with employers scrambling to hire the best talent before their competitors do, the same old recruiting techniques no longer work.

Rather than posting a job description and expecting the perfect candidate to walk through the door, employers must actively identify, engage and build relationships with those individuals.

This entails creating a unique message for each type of candidate you seek, and using the right channels to ensure that messaging makes it to the right audience.

Taking such a targeted approach will put the focus of recruiting back on people, rather than process, enabling companies to connect with candidates on a personal level and better attract top talent.

So, what’s the best route to take to get to that point? The key is to leverage data; and with 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created each day, there’s plenty to go around. Through resumes, cover letters, social profiles, “likes,” blogs, comments and more, today’s candidates leave a trail of information that can be used to learn a great deal about them.

The challenge lies in aggregating such data and using it to tailor your recruitment marketing activities in a way that drives engagement and leads to your next great hires.

Candidates Are Consumers, Too.

To do this effectively, recruiting teams can take a page from their colleagues in the sales department.

Salespeople understand the need to leverage consumer data to find their ideal customers, in order to uncover their purchasing habits and preferences and deliver on-point, personalized communications to get the sale.

How can recruiting take a similar approach?

By adopting the technology solutions that enable recruiters to aggregate relevant data about their candidates, identify what is most meaningful to them, and present targeted content that encourages them to apply.

Leveraging the same tools and techniques salespeople use enables recruiters to deliver the personalized experience so crucial to building relationships with candidates. One of the most effective approaches is the use of sales demo solutions, which enable candidates to select the topics most important to them.

Presenting candidates with a list of topics via email about the company, including career development, location, work/life balance, company awards, culture and more, and having them rate their level of interest in each one, provides the insight into what a candidate values most.

An automated demo solution can then provide relevant content on the topics in which the candidate is most interested, showing how the company can deliver the work experience they seek.

Conversations And Conversions: Rolling Out the Recruiting Red Carpet.

But getting candidates’ interest through an automated pitch is only half the journey. It is then up to company recruiters to build the personal connections that can convert the most qualified talent into their newest employees.

Leveraging the data about the factors most important to candidates will equip recruiters with in-depth knowledge necessary to creating a personalized approach.

This allows them to have more meaningful, targeted conversations about the company and how it can help them meet their personal and professional goals.

Once again, the right technology solution is crucial to making this happen. Today’s candidates want the red carpet treatment, from their first interaction with the company through to the offer and onboarding. As such, employers must leverage the platform that can facilitate this process, treating each candidate like a customer and delivering a one-to-one experience throughout.

And just how salespeople know they must move fast to maintain the customer’s interest, recruiters will benefit from the solutions that enable them to move candidates through the pipeline just as quickly.

This includes being able to conduct key aspects of the talent acquisition process on their mobile devices, thereby allowing recruiters and hiring managers to evaluate candidates and share feedback where and when it is most convenient. As a result, employers can deliver a high-touch experience throughout the candidate lifecycle, while building deeper relationships with the people they want to hire.

As recruiting the best candidates will only become more challenging, adopting the solutions that can not only streamline key steps in the process, but make them more personal, is key to success. By creating a personalized candidate experience, recruiters can increase interest in their company and be seen as an employer of choice.

Rather than relying on traditional job descriptions or one-sided emails, creating a recruitment marketing strategy around the preferences of the candidate and providing a highly personalized and engaged experience throughout will give companies the competitive hiring advantage they need.

About the Author: Greg Mannon currently serves as a solution consultant for TalentObjects by Lumesse. His innovative and creative approach in recruitment strategy, candidate experience, and outside the box sourcing techniques has won him several awards throughout his career.

Greg’s mission is to help companies create successful strategies that bring in the best talent and keep them coming. He is a full-time father of three and a volunteer firefighter.